An imperative is a command or an order, e.g. "Stop!", "Don't slurp your soup!" An imperative is easily recognized in English and Latin by an exclamation mark being placed after it. It is also often found with a noun in the vocative case, e.g. "Look, o citizens, at the villain before you!", "Don't annoy your sister, David!"

Note that an imperative can be positive or negative. A positive imperative tells someone to do something, e.g. "Be nice to your parents!" A negative imperative tells someone not to do something, e.g. "Don't talk to strangers!"

Imperatives are either singular or plural, depending on whether a single person, or several persons are being addressed. In English, it can be hard to tell whether the imperative is singular or plural, because the two forms are the same - you have to work it out from context. In Latin, it is important to distinguish carefully between singular and plural imperatives; as usual, the endings will tell you which it is, e.g. "Stand still, Mark!" ("Sta, Marce!") is singular, while "Stand still, girls!" ("State, puellae!") is plural.

The formation of the imperative in Latin is entirely regular. Simply find the present stem (infinitive minus -re) and that is the singular imperative. To make the plural imperative, add -te to the singular.

Note: This rule is broken by third and third-io conjugation verbs, where the final 'e' of the singular changes to 'i' before the -te in the plural (see below).

For the purposes of this tutorial, only second person commands are considered, i.e. where a person or persons are being directly told to do something. Latin also has first person imperatives ("Let us all rejoice!"), and third person imperatives ("Let her go first!", "Let them arise and dance!") which are formed using the present subjunctive.

It is interesting to note too that Latin has both future and past imperatives as well as present imperatives, but these are fairly rare. These concepts are quite foreign to English, e.g. "Be going to fight well!" (not now, but at some point in the future). You do not need to know about these imperatives.

The First Conjugation.

amo, amare, amavi, amatum to love

ama!

love! (sing.)

amate!

love! (plural)

The first conjugation is where all the a-stem verbs are grouped together. The singular imperative is formed by finding the infinitive (second principal part) and chopping off the final -re. To make the plural imperative, simply add -te to the singular.

Other verbs conjugated like amo are:

rogo, rogare, rogavi, rogatum

to ask

ambulo, ambulare, ambulavi, ambulatum

to walk

clamo, clamare, clamavi, clamatum

to shout

navigo, navigare, navigavi, navigatum

to sail

Practising the First Conjugation Imperative.

porto, portare, portavi, portatum to carry

singular

2nd person

carry! (sing.)

plural

2nd person

carry! (pl.)

Practise forming a first conjugation verb in the imperativeby studying the table in the previous section, and then applying the rules to the first conjugation verb directly above. Type in the verb forms, and then press << Check Answers >> to see whether you are correct. You can move between the text boxes by using the << Tab >> key.

Be tested on different first conjugation verbs by clicking on the pictures below. You can be tested on either Latin to English, or English to Latin.

The second conjugation is where all the long-e-stem verbs are grouped together. The singular imperative is formed by finding the infinitive (second principal part) and chopping off the final -re. To make the plural imperative, simply add -te to the singular.

Other verbs conjugated like moneo are:

video, videre, vidi, visum

to see

habeo, habere, habui, habitum

to have

timeo, timere, timui

to fear

maneo, manere, mansi, mansum

to remain

Practising the Second Conjugation Imperative.

deleo, delere, delevi, deletum to destroy

singular

2nd person

destroy! (sing.)

plural

2nd person

destroy! (pl.)

Practise forming a second conjugation verb in the imperativeby studying the table in the previous section, and then applying the rules to the second conjugation verb directly above. Type in the verb forms, and then press << Check Answers >> to see whether you are correct. You can move between the text boxes by using the << Tab >> key.

Be tested on different second conjugation verbs by clicking on the pictures below. You can be tested on either Latin to English, or English to Latin.

The third conjugation is where all the short-e-stem verbs are grouped together. The singular imperative is formed by finding the infinitive (second principal part) and chopping off the final -re. To make the plural imperative, change the final 'e' of the singular to 'i' and add -te.

Other verbs conjugated like rego are:

mitto, mittere, misi, missum

to send

dico, dicere, dixi, dictum

to say

duco, ducere, duxi, ductum

to lead

scribo, scribere, scripsi, scriptum

to write

Practising the Third Conjugation Imperative.

ago, agere, egi, actum to drive, do

singular

2nd person

drive! (sing.)

plural

2nd person

drive! (pl.)

Practise forming a third conjugation verb in the imperativeby studying the table in the previous section, and then applying the rules to the third conjugation verb directly above. Type in the verb forms, and then press << Check Answers >> to see whether you are correct. You can move between the text boxes by using the << Tab >> key.

Be tested on different third conjugation verbs by clicking on the pictures below. You can be tested on either Latin to English, or English to Latin.

The third-io conjugation is is a small sub-branch of the third conjugation. The singular imperative is formed by finding the infinitive (second principal part) and chopping off the final -re. To make the plural imperative, change the final 'e' of the singular to 'i' and add -te.

Other verbs conjugated like capio are:

facio, facere, feci, factum

to do, make

cupio, cupere, cupivi, cupitum

to desire

accipio, accipere, accepi, acceptum

to receive, accept

interficio, interficere, interfeci, interfectum

to kill

Practising the Third-io Conjugation Imperative.

fugio, fugere, fugi, fugitum to flee

singular

2nd person

flee! (sing.)

plural

2nd person

flee! (pl.)

Practise forming a third-io conjugation verb in the imperativeby studying the table in the previous section, and then applying the rules to the third-io conjugation verb directly above. Type in the verb forms, and then press << Check Answers >> to see whether you are correct. You can move between the text boxes by using the << Tab >> key.

Be tested on different third-io conjugation verbs by clicking on the pictures below. You can be tested on either Latin to English, or English to Latin.

The fourth conjugation is where all the i-stem verbs are grouped together. The singular imperative is formed by finding the infinitive (second principal part) and chopping off the final -re. To make the plural imperative, simply add -te to the singular.

Other verbs conjugated like audio are:

custodio, custodire, custodivi, custoditum

to guard

finio, finire, finivi, finitum

to finish

venio, venire, veni, ventum

to come

punio, punire, punivi, punitum

to punish

Practising the Fourth Conjugation Imperative.

dormio, dormire, dormivi, dormitum to sleep

singular

2nd person

sleep! (sing.)

plural

2nd person

sleep! (pl.)

Practise forming a fourth conjugation verb in the imperativeby studying the table in the previous section, and then applying the rules to the fourth conjugation verb directly above. Type in the verb forms, and then press << Check Answers >> to see whether you are correct. You can move between the text boxes by using the << Tab >> key.

Be tested on different fourth conjugation verbs by clicking on the pictures below. You can be tested on either Latin to English, or English to Latin.

For the first three, dic (say!), duc (lead!) and fac (make!), the final 'e' has dropped off. The plurals are all regularly formed.
For fer, ferte (bring!), from fero, ferre, tuli, latum, to bring, the imperative is in fact formed quite regularly, but it looks odd, so is included here.
For es, este (be!), from sum, esse, fui, to be, it is the final -se of the infinitive which drops off, not the final -re.

Negative Imperatives.

To form a negative imperative, i.e. to tell someone not to do something, the Romans used noli + infinitive for the singular, and nolite + infinitive for the plural. The forms noli and nolite are the imperatives of the verb nolo, nolle, nolui, to not want. By forming their negative imperatives in this way, the Romans were actually being much more polite than we are, saying, "Do not want to cry!", rather than "Don't cry!" The forms noli and nolite are always followed by an infinitive, i.e. "Do not want to do something".

cape!

take! (sing.)

capite!

take! (plural)

noli capere!

don't take! (sing.)

nolite capere!

don't take! (plural)

Summary of the Imperative.

I

ama

II

mone

III

rege

III-io

cape

IV

audi

amate

monete

regite

capite

audite

Formation: (singular) infinitive (second principal part) minus -re; (plural) add -te to the singular.Meanings: love!Forms to note: in third and third-io conjugations, the final -e of the singular changes to i before the -te of the plural.